The Sprint for City HallThere are just five weeks until the critical Democratic primary for mayor on June 24.Parades can be hard to resist, especially by political candidates during campaign season. This year's mayoral race, however, is a bit different. Hi, I'm Dean Chang, the editor running The New York Times's coverage of the mayoral primary. This week's personal aside: I once lost a newsroom bet on the 1994 governor's race, when Mario Cuomo, an overwhelming favorite, lost to George Pataki — a lesson, perhaps, that anything can happen. In this edition of the newsletter, we'll get into how the tensions over the Israel-Gaza war have made their way into the mayor's race, even affecting a parade over the weekend. We'll also look at how candidates' children are being deployed on the campaign trail this year. And to honor that theme, we have a special ranked-choice ballot from Dante de Blasio, the former mayor's son.
THE NEWS Politicians on paradeA dozen years ago, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and just about every person running to succeed him in office took part in the Celebrate Israel parade along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. In a city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel, the parade was a must-stop event. The Israel-Gaza war has changed that dynamic. Several mayoral candidates, including former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Scott M. Stringer and Whitney Tilson, attended Sunday's parade, now called Israel Day on Fifth. Other leading candidates were no-shows, although many of them — including Adrienne Adams, Michael Blake, Brad Lander and Zellnor Myrie — attended a pre-parade legislative breakfast run by Met Council, a Jewish nonprofit. Zohran Mamdani skipped both; a campaign spokeswoman said he had prior commitments at churches and rallies. Jeff Mays, a City Hall reporter, delved into how the fallout from the war is shaping the mayor's race, or, as Mamdani has suggested, is "being weaponized as a political talking point." For more, read here. More news:
CHARTING THE RACE Behind a poll's curtainsA poll last week by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion showed Cuomo as the first choice of 44 percent of likely Democratic primary voters, followed by Mamdani at 22 percent, Adams at 11 percent and Lander at 10 percent. The poll projected Cuomo would prevail after the fifth round of ranked-choice voting. Nicholas Fandos, who has spent nearly a decade covering policy and politics in Washington and New York, had a few questions for the institute's director, Lee Miringoff. Let me ask you the question I hear a lot from New Yorkers these days: Is this thing over? It's fair to say that Cuomo's a strong front-runner. Two things would have to happen for that to change: Cuomo has to misstep, and support has to galvanize behind some of the other candidates. You do have a third of the likely Democratic primary voters still looking it over. If you put that into the mix, that does create some uncertainty. Which parts of the electorate is Cuomo strongest with? Weakest? He does best among Latino and Black voters, and does decently well among Jewish voters. If the electorate were only among white voters, this would be a very close election. He's actually running up the score among nonwhite voters. The bad news for Cuomo is he's not doing well with younger people. The good news is they don't vote as much. You asked Democratic voters whether they want a mayor who fights President Trump or works with him, as Mayor Adams has. The overwhelming number (74 percent) say they want someone to draw a line in the sand. They want a Democratic mayor to act in a partisan way and oppose what Trump is proposing. For a more detailed look at the candidates, go over to our Who's Running tracker. If you want to brush up on where the nine most prominent Democrats stand on various issues, we've got you covered. And if you want to find stories you may have missed, our mayor's race landing page is right here.
AD WATCH Lander and the accidental mob connectionWhen he cut his first TV ad this month, Lander was so determined to portray himself as a "corruption crusher" that he actually crushed a sedan — spray-painted with the word "corruption" — on camera. It was a striking image — but not just for the reason Lander intended. It turns out that the bright yellow auto compactor and Queens salvage yard the campaign rented for the anti-corruption shoot has ties to one of the most notorious crime families in American history, the Gambino family, and its former leader, John A. Gotti. A spokeswoman for Lander, who as city comptroller is responsible for vetting government contracts, said the campaign was unaware of the Gambino connection when it rented the compactor, the only one it could find in the city. "Like we've always said, Brad will crush corruption and he's not afraid to go right at the source," said the spokeswoman, Dora Pekec. The owner of the auto business, Vincent Spirito, has never been accused of wrongdoing himself. "I've been in business a long time, and I never hurt anybody," he said in a phone interview. But his ties to the Gambinos are myriad. Records indicate Spirito married the daughter of Angelo Ruggiero Sr., a well-known Gambino lieutenant who had four major cases against him pending when he died. Federal prosecutors also referred to Spirito's apparent brother-in-law as a "Gambino family soldier" in a 2008 indictment. In 2005, Spirito was one of several people who personally signed a bail bond for Gotti. The next year, he bought Gotti's auto parts business. "He was the landlord," Spirito explained by phone. "So I helped my landlord." Spirito still runs the parts business, but later added another auto recycling operation up the block, which is where Lander filmed his ad. Neither man would say how much Spirito was paid, but the campaign spent $732,000 to broadcast the ad. "I don't support these people," Spirito said. "I support my business and my family." — Nicholas Fandos
Kids say the darndest thingsAt Bill de Blasio's mayoral campaign launch event in January 2013, his son, Dante, drew widespread attention for his hair, which one publication described as "a stupendous Afro." Dante was later featured in a television ad that drew attention to his biracial family and his father's pledge to end stop-and-frisk policing. The takeaway seemed clear: Children. Use 'em if you got 'em. Emma Fitzsimmons, our City Hall bureau chief, has a look at how candidates this year have gotten the message. Lander may not be the most obvious candidate to score a viral moment on social media, but score he did, with a significant assist from his daughter, Rosa. They shot a video as Rosa prepared for the Met Gala, getting makeup and explaining the inspiration for her outfit, which included a blazer with a union logo made by Parron Allen, a Brooklyn designer. "Come get ready with me to be the least famous person at the Met Gala," she said in the video, which received nearly a million views on TikTok. When Cuomo began his campaign, he featured warm testimonials from his three adult daughters, who spoke about the difficulty of finding an affordable apartment and their father's ability to get things done. Their presence also sought to provide a familial buffer to the sexual harassment allegations that led to his resignation as governor. Other candidates whose children have had cameos in the race include Stringer, whose two sons and wife read an open letter to parents about the shortcomings in the city's public schools. And Jessica Ramos, a state senator from Queens, featured her sons in a campaign video about the need for universal child care and the challenges of being a working mother. Adrienne Adams often talks about how she's a mother of four and grandmother of 11. Her family appeared in a new campaign video released in honor of Mother's Day, playing basketball, blowing bubbles and attesting to her character.
ISSUE OF THE WEEK Free buses: Could it happen?One of the more interesting campaign promises, courtesy of Mamdani, is to make city buses free. Could it really happen? Emma, who covered transportation before joining our City Hall team, explores the possibility. The buses and subways are run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is controlled by the governor. The agency has perennial financial problems, and they could worsen if the Trump administration kills congestion pricing. As a state lawmaker, Mamdani helped create a pilot program in 2023 that made one bus route in each borough free. It would be a much heavier lift to expand the idea citywide, which, even in Mamdani's estimation, could cost about $800 million annually. He argues that it would speed up buses — which are the slowest in the nation at about eight miles per hour — because riders would not have to stop and pay. And he said it was the right thing to do in a city that is increasingly unaffordable. I asked Mamdani how he would pay for free buses. He said that the city could work with the state, pointing to the example of former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg offering city money to expand the 7 train to Hudson Yards in Manhattan.
WHAT'S YOUR RANKED-CHOICE BALLOT LOOK LIKE? Dante de BlasioBack to Dante de Blasio. He shared his ranked-choice ballot plans with Emma. His top choice is Adrienne Adams. He called her an experienced leader who had steered the City Council through "budget fights, partisan battles and City Hall scandals." "All with a minimum of drama," he said. "She will be the adult in the room." He likes Mamdani and thinks he's running a "fantastic campaign," and plans to rank him second. But he noted that the lawmaker is only in his second term as a state assemblyman. "I worry about his lack of experience," he said. The former mayor's son, who recently directed a short documentary about a violence interrupter program in Brooklyn, said his guiding strategy was to keep Cuomo off his ballot, citing the sexual harassment and nursing homes scandals. Cuomo also famously feuded with Dante's father over the subway, public housing and even euthanizing a deer. The younger de Blasio said he was concerned about Cuomo's "pattern of bullying and vindictiveness as governor." PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Thank you for reading today's edition of The Sprint for City Hall. Look for the next edition in your inbox on Tuesday. DATES TO WATCH
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